Breve resumen de la evaluacion del 2007

2007.
External Assessment of the training activities. In 2007 the Internal Oversight Service of
UNESCO HQ took the activities of the SLN as one of the cases to accomplish a
Mandate of the Executive Council, in order to evaluate the activities of the
Organization. By means of an international bid, a Mexican firm was selected.

- Approach
& Methodology: “evaluation
addressed the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability
of the program. Carried out by a team of three independent consultants, the evaluation
makes recommendations to improve the program. The evaluation applied a mixed
methodology approach: a survey to principals who had received training;
in-depth focus group interviews to OREALC-UNESCO functionaries and program
consultants; a review of relevant documents; in depth case-studies of
participating schools; and statistical analysis of repetition and dropout rates”.

Findings:

“The information gathered
throughout the evaluation shows that the program has been highly relevant for
UNESCO’s institutional goals related to improvements in the quality of education.
In fact, the program’s placing of schools at the centre of efforts to change
the management of school systems was ahead of its time and pre-empted UNESCO recommendations
in 2007. The evaluation team concluded that the conceptual approach was
innovative and highly relevant to Latin American school contexts with the
program meeting the demands of beneficiaries. For instance, the majority of
school principals who were interviewed stated that the course improved their
leadership competencies and gave them new skills for improving their school
management capabilities”.

“Three different kinds of
sources of information were used to assess the impact of the training course
for principals. The first source was responses by trained principals to questions
related to (1) individual principal capacity and practice; and (2) school organisation
and environment. Next, repetition and dropout rates were examined to assess changes
following the training courses. Thirdly, in depth case-studies were conducted
at the school level in which the evaluators visited schools led by trained
principals who had received training”.

“The data provides sufficient
empirical support to conclude that the training course has brought about
changes in daily leadership practices and in school organizational environments.
For example, the principals’ responses to the 28 survey questions related to school
organisation and environment showed that changes occurred across all of the dimensions
asked. The greatest changes were in: student motivation; teachers’ ability to accept
critical thinking; class planning; teachers’ willingness to accept directors in
their classrooms; acknowledging common project goals and strategies; and the
joy of coexisting”.

“The responses to the 25
survey questions on individual principal capacity also showed that the program
had significant impact in this area. The practices that showed the most change
after the course were: the ability to make clear and precise requests;
confidence building in the teaching team; establishing standard procedures in
administrative and educational routines; and equity in expressing judgment”.

“Most of those school
principals who were interviewed for the survey questions were able to narrate
specific applications of the skills developed by the leadership course. Most felt
that teachers and their supervisors/superiors were able to recognize changes
and considered them to be long-lasting”.

“The program made large-scale
interventions on two school modalities in Mexico
(secondary schools in the state of Chihuahua
and national job training centers CECATI)) through training almost all of the
principals. Only the secondary school level intervention had relevant
indicators to assess impact.Although
the data is only illustrative, it showed that dropout and repetition rates fell
after the leadership course had been introduced on a large scale. Although the
changes in the indicators cannot be solely attributed to the intervention, they
do show that progress has been made towards the program’s objectives”

“The case studies were of two
primary rural schools (one in each of Nicaragua and Ecuador) and a CECATI in Mexico City. These case studies also showed
the impact the leadership course can bring to schools, in particular by
improving conditions under which the program and additional initiatives operate
at the school level. The studies also showed that the leadership course cannot
be considered as an isolated, albeit important, factor in the process of
inducing change in schools”.

Although
this positive evaluation, it was clear that the training processes needs to
move fast towards training processes in pedagogical leadership, because:

“The following showed the least change: defense and dignified
representation of the school; knowledge of the curriculum; teaching and
assessment strategies; provision of materials and opportunities of continuing learning
for teachers; and their involvement in design and implementation of teacher education
or institution evaluation change: defense and dignified representation of the
school; knowledge of the curriculum; teaching and assessment strategies;
provision of materials and opportunities of continuing learning for teachers;
and their involvement in design and implementation of teacher education or
institution evaluation”.